Article, particularly sole, made of stripping



April 12, 1949. J- GREGG ARTICLE, PARTICULARLY SOLES, MADE OF STRIPPING Filed Sept. 29,1944

2 Sheetssheet 1 I INVENTOR. J o N G R E6 6 a;

IIHIIIII TTO/Q/VEY April 12, 1949. v E 2,466,944

ARTICLE, PARTICULARLY SOLES, MADE OF STRIPPING Filed Sept. 29, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

WA JON GREGG 2i BY ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 12, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ARTICLE, PARTICULARLY SOLE, MADE OF STRIPPIN G 3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to articles made of stripping and methods of making the same.

One object of this invention is to improve the article disclosed in my co-pending application Serial No. 518,790, filed January 19, 1944.

Another object of this invention is to provide a highly improved sole of the character described which shall be rugged and durable and withstand considerable wear.

Another object of this invention is to provide a highly improved sole of the character described so constructed that it can be easily fabricated into a shoe or slipper.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the method and construction hereinafter described, and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawing, in which is shown one of the various possible illustrative embodiments of this invention,

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of braid of which the sole is made and showing the strands and cores opened up;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view illustrating a step in the process of manufacturing the improved sole in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the winding table illustrating the method of winding the braid;

Fig. 4 is a top plan View of a sole embodying the invention;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, partial cross-sectional view thereof taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of a temporary mold forming part of the apparatus used in carrying out the invention;

Fig. '7 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a top plan view of the mold used for molding the soles under heat and pressure;

Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 9-9 of Fig. 8; and

Fig. 10 is a partial cross sectional view similar to Fig. 5 but illustrating a modified form of the invention.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, I ll designates a sole embodying the invention. The sole is made from a flexible, fibrous strip l I such 'as braid or woven or knitted tape, or cord or rope.

braiding operation. Obviously any other suitable construction may be used for the braid. That is, the number of carriers and the number of plies per carrier may be varied.

The cores l2 preferably comprise thread or cord of fibrous material such as cotton thread, or jute, rayon or silk, or the like. The yarns I4 and I5 are preferably made of twisted threads of fibrous material such as cotton, jute, manila or any other suitable material. The yarn Hi however, is preferably made of new or reclaimed crude or uncured or semi-cured rubber or synthetic moldable, thermoplastic and/or thermosetting material such as Vinylite, cellulose acetate, or any other suitable material. That is the material of yarn It must be such that it can be vulcanized, cured or made to flow by heat or pressure and will set after it flows. It is preferably compressible and resilient after it is set. Furthermore, the material may be such that it can be made plastic by solvent, or plasticizer.

It will be noted that two yarns M, l5 off each carrier are made of fibrous material, whereas one yarn l6 off each carrier is made of thermoplastic or moldable material. The yarn I6, preferably has a core l8 of thread such as cotton or jute passing therethrough so as to make the yarn easy to handle and so it will not stretch during the braiding operation. The yarn It may comprise a thread coated with a coat l8a. of moldable material. I

The braiding may be carried out on usual braid.- ing machines. The braided strip ll may be wound on the winding table 20 into the general shape of an outsole in the usual manner as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawing. Table 20 rotates about a stem 2|. On the table 20 are three pegs 24, 25 and 26. The strip II is wound around the pegs in such a manner as to produce the general shape of an outsole. The rubber or thermoplastic or moldable material l8a may be in somewhat tacky condition.

Said material may be rendered tacky before winding on table 2i! as will appear hereinafter. The strip H may be passed between a pair of rollers 28 and 29. The lower roller 29 is in a trough or pan 39. Above the roller 28 is a vessel 3-! adapted to contain liquid which drips onto roller 28. The liquid in the vessel 3| is preferably a solvent for the material Illa so as to cause the same to become somewhat tacky as the strip is wound. If desired, said material can be treated with an adhesive, or it can be heated to render it tacky, or a plasticizer may be applied for the sam purpose. As the strip is wound, portions of coating I811 in adjacent convolutions or windings of the braided strip will contact. Due to the tackiness of the exposed portions of the yarn IS, the convolutions will stick to each other.

The wound sole may be premolded in a temporary mold 451 shown in Figs. 6 and '7 of the drawing. The mold 40 comprises a pair of coplanar relatively slidable split mold members 4| and 42. Member M has a cutout 43 conforming in outline to one longitudinal half of the outsole. Mold member 42 has a complementary cutout 44 substantially equivalent to the other half of the outsole. Member 42 is slidably mounted in member 4|. Member 4| has parallel guide members 45 between which member 42 slides. Member :32 may be pressed against member 43 by means of cammed levers 46pivoted as at 41 to member 41. The mold is opened up and the wound strip is placed in the mold. The levers 46 are then actuated to compress th sole. If desired, a top plate 41a may be used to press down the sole.

The mold is then opened up and the sole is sufficiently stuck together to permit handling and transportation to the molds 50- in which thermoplastic material is cured. The wound soles are placed in the molds G and molded under heat and pressure. Mold 50 may comprise a bottom plate 5| provided with complementary mold members 52 and 53 having complementary cutouts 5t and 55 to receive the sole. The mold 511 is also provided with a top plate 56 or which a plunger if desired, to compress the sole in the mold. The mold is preferably subjected to heat and also to pressure. The sole, being compressed under heat, causes the uncured rubber to vulcanize or cure and flow to unite the convolutions of the sole. The thermoplastic material will flow into the fibrous strands. Contacting portions of thermoplastic material will fuse together so as to integrate the windings of the sole.

If desired, as illustrated in Fig. of th drawing, a strip 60 of moldable, thermoplastic and/ or thermosetting or vultanizable material such as uncured rubber or synthetic material such as ,Vinylite, acetate or ethyl cellulose may be pressed against the braid prior to winding on tabl 20. The strip so may be tacky as it is extruded from an eXtruder-or it may be treated with a solvent or adhesive, or itmay be heated to make it tacky prior to winding. The strip 68 will flow under pressure and heat and further aid in uniting the convolutions of the sole. The uniting of the windings may be accomplished by pressure alone or heat alone if desired.

The invention may be also carried out by braiding strip braid wholly of thermoplastic and/or thermosetting yarns. That is, both the cores and the cover yarns are of moldable thermoplastic or thermosetting material or uncured rubber. If desired a strip of woven thermoplastic or thermosetting material may be used instead of a braided strip, or the strip may be of knitted moldable yarn. The strip is dry and then run over rollers to coatboth sides with a solvent or cement or other adhesive or plasticizer.

If desired, heat may be applied to both sides of said strip to soften the same. The strip is thus left in a tacky condition so that upon winding into a shoe sole shape and placing in a mold which would exert both lateral and vertical pressure, no heat would be necessary.

If desired, the mold could be so constructed so as to apply heat at the periphery of the sole without causing the whole mass of the sole to become plastic and thus integrate.

By curing the outside convolutions of the sole, the outer convolutions will retain the sole in the molded shape.

The drawing shows a method of making a shoe sole, but it will be understood that articles other than soles can be made in a similar method. For example, a rug can be made by winding the strip spirally to produce any desired diameter. The wound stripping may then be cured in a mold or otherwise treated by pressure alone or heat alone or by the use of solvent to cause the windings to unite and form a rug.

Furthermore, the stripping may be arranged in parallel relation instead of being wound and integrated by molding or as otherwise described above. Various articles may be died out of the layered material thus produced.

It will be noted furthermore that a rug may be made by winding the braid in flat condition spirally so that the edges contact instead of the sides. The contacting edges may then be caused to fuse and unite to form a rug.

I A cover yarn in the plaiting or braiding business is a yarn which is plaited or braided around two or more center yarns or core yarns. The core yarns come off stationary bobbins whereas the cover yarns come off bobbins which follow a track carrying them in and aroundthe core yarns.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrativeand not in a limiting sense. i i

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A sole comprising a wound braided strip, said strip comprising a core, and cover yarn-of thermoset material and cover yarn of fibrous thread, the thermoset yarn in adjacent windings of the braided strip being fused together and penetrating the fibrous threads to unite the windings, said yarn of thermoset materialhaving a core of textile thread. I

2. A sole comprising a wound braided strip said strip comprising covery-arn of thermoset material and cover yarn of fibrous thread, the thermoset yarn in adjacent windings of the braided strip being fused together and penetrating the fibrous threads to unite the windings, said yarn of thermoset material having a core of textile thread, said braided strip having core yarns of textile thread about which the cover yarns are braided. I

3. A sole made of contiguous braided strip portions having cover strands of fibrous material and cover strands of fibrous thread coated with molded material, and cores of fibrous thread, the molded material of adjacent strip portions being fused and penetrated into the fibrous cover strands.

JON GREGG.

' REFERENCES CITED The followingreferences are of record in the file of this'patent:

. UNITED STATES PATENTS 

